Saturday, March 14, 2015

What is the Least Necessary Sequel Ever Made?

It's not that they're bad. It's that they shouldn't have bothered.

Maybe it's the fault of Heath Holland's recent piece, but I've got sequels on the brain. We've already talked about superior sequels and we've talked about underrated sequels. Now it's time to talk about sequels that probably shouldn't exist in the first place. Maybe it's terrible. Maybe it's surprisingly decent. In either case, you can't figure out why or how it got made in the first place.

72 comments:

  1. King Kong Lives (1986). And I love every bit of it! #ItCameFromThe80s

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    1. LOVE King Kong lives.
      But seriously, that gorilla make-up???

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  2. Most comedy sequels in general, really. Dumb and Dumber 2 comes to mind of late, and I have a feeling the same will be said for Zoolander 2.

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  3. S. Darko. F that movie.

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    1. I almost mentioned S. Darko. No need for that at all.

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    2. Yeah that one annoyed me. King Kong Lives is fun unnecessary (funnecessary?) - S. Darko was just a jerk.

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  4. blade runner 2. why bother? i dont want to know what happens next!

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    1. Yes! A million times yes. How can it be made without addressing key themes?

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    2. EXACTLY!
      What's the point??
      Oh wait.... I know... CASH!

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  5. Stir of Echoes 2. Beyond Re-animator, I love Jeffrey Combs and the series, but I did not like the 3rd movie at all. Same with the Cube series. Cube 2: Hypercube isn't terrible to me (I'm in the minority), but it is wholly unneeded, and doesn't expand the story in any real way. It feels like a rip off.

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  6. The Matrix sequels take away some of the magic from the first film. While I think the second film is o.k, they are both unnecessary.

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    1. And the first one finished so perfectly I did not want it to continue

      Though I will admit it was worth it to see some more Mr Smith

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  7. I'm trying to not answer with sequels that I think just suck. Like the Matrix sequels are bad, but they are at least trying to build on the mythology of the first and add to the story and world. But when I think of an unnecessary sequel, I think of Alien: Resurrection, because they had to come up with all sorts of horseshit just to make it happen. A movie in which the main character isn't just dead, but whose body is incinerated, should be pretty much sequel-proof. But instead they bring in Joss Whedon to come up with all kinds of non-sense just to get the sequel going. They could've just as easily replayed the last 5 minutes from Alien 3 and had Ripley wake up and yell "wow what a terrible dream." And add to that, it adds nothing to the alien universe, or the character of Ripley. Alien: Resurrection is 2 straight hours of non-sense. Have I mentioned that I hate Alien: Resurrection?

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    1. It just felt like the Wachowskis were grasping at straws with the sequels. The whole "lost programs are vampires, ghosts, and werewolves" thing was beyond awful.

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    2. I actually don't mind the Matrix sequels all that much. One reason is because I'm not really a big fan of the first Matrix anyway, but also because they were an ambitious failure. The Wachowski's weren't cashing a paycheck, and weren't spinning their tires. Side note: I actually think Matrix Reloaded is just about as good as the Matrix.

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  8. Jaws 4: The Revenge. As if either 2 or 3 needed to made in any alternate universe, Jaws 4 was so absurd in its plot, neither Terry Gilliam nor Ted Cruz could've justified how silly it was.

    A telepathic connection with a shark? The shark follows you 1000 miles to the bahamas? The shark can STAND on the water? B**ch please.

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  9. I got so many touch upon, but here they are in no particular order:

    Analyze That
    Another Stakeout (see picture above)
    Basic Instinct 2
    Blues Brothers 2000
    Caddyshack II
    City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
    Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights
    Evan Almighty
    The Fly II
    Grease 2
    Horrible Bosses 2
    Legally Blonde 2: Red White and Blonde
    The Legend of Zorro
    Mannequin 2: On the Move
    More American Graffiti
    The Rage: Carrie 2
    Son of the Mask
    Staying Alive
    The Sting II
    The Two Jakes (sequel to Chinatown)
    U.S. Marshals (sequel to The Fugitive)
    Weekend at Bernie's 2
    The Whole Ten Yards
    xXx: State of the Union

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    1. But this is in a very particular order.. Alphabetical..

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    2. Some of these picks are quite good, but The Mask of Zorro demanded a sequel just to get Elena into a "Zorra" outfit, which The Legend of Zorro didn't even deliver! :P

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  10. Blackthorne, the sequel to Butch and Sundance. If there's an ending that doesn't lend itself to a next episode, it's that. At least until my spec for Training Day 2: Graduation Day gets picked up.

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    1. I had no idea this even existed. Just looked it up on imdb. What a terrible idea, but I have to admit Sam Shepard and Eduardo Noriega have me somewhat intrigued. Clearly, I am not a person who learns lessons.

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    2. It's not a terrible movie, by any stretch; just completely unneeded and wrong-headed.

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  11. Exorcist 2 The Heritic

    "Pazoozo will lead to Pachooucu" JB :)

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  12. Caddyshack 2 is painfully bad, as if the cast was being held at gunpoint offscreen and forced to perform...

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  13. Unnecessary sequel - "The Evening Star" (1996), sequel to "Terms of Endearment" (1983)

    Retroactively necessary "unnecessary sequel" - "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift"

    Retroactively unnecessary sequel - "X3: X-Men United"

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    1. That last one should say "X-Men: The Last Stand" (it was much easier to remember sequel titles when they just added numbers after the original title).

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  14. Blues Brothers 2000. It's not even the worst movie mentioned here today (there really is some good music/dancing in there) but as non-essential sequels go I can't think of any less essential. There's no more story to tell, just bigger and louder car crashes and a new generation of Illinois nazis. Just a lazy, sloppy, pointless rehash.

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    1. BB2k (that's how it's known, right?) was my pick too. Absolutely pointless.

      Also, didn't they make a sequel to American Psycho with a girl as the lead? I haven't even seen it but I'm guessing it's pretty unnecessary.

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    2. Yes they did, with Mila Kunis and William Shatner. Kunis herself has admitted that doing American Psycho 2 was a mistake.

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  15. Anybody seen any of those direct-to-video Disney sequels? Cinderella 3 had the character time-traveling all over the place (no hoverboards, though), and the Beauty and the Beast one revealed that those characters went and had a magical Christmas adventure in between two scenes of the original movie.

    Also, there's an Eddie and the Cruisers 2, even though (SPOILER) Eddie died at the end of the first one.

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    1. The sequel IS called Eddie Lives!

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    2. I remember those direct-to-video Disney sequels... yuck. In particular, Pocahontas II where she breaks up with John Smith in a painfully awkward scene only to join up with John Rolfe like 10 minutes later.

      Actually arguably there is one good one - The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning - which is a prequel about King Triton getting over the death of his wife... while banning music in Atlantica... hmmm... maybe it's just the corn amongst the pile of crap.

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    3. Even as someone who works for the Mouse, I have to agree some of those Disney sequels are just shameless, unnecessary cash grabs.

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    4. Mac I thought I was alone in the fact I like Cinderella 3. Cinderella 2 was an awful terrible film and wasn't helped by the fact I was kidnapped by small children and sat on in order for them to make me watch it. But I think Cinderella 3 has some stuff in it to like as does the Christmas Beauty and the Beast. Pocahontas II is genuinely quite terrible.

      The other day I walked into the sitting room and my sister was watching Brother Bear 2. I have to put this forward for the least necessary of the Disney sequels. I only watched this as listening to music and eating lunch so I can only summarise a bit of what I caught. Kennai is now a bear with his brother bear (get it?) Cody. He falls in love with human Nita. She falls so much for his bareliness that she turns herself into a bear so they can be happy together! As bears! Happily ever after is possibly everyone, but only if you are willing to abandon everything else in your life and be bear enough to become one with nature.

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  16. Live Free or Die Hard, A Good Day to Die Hard and I'm in the minority, but I think Die Harder is pretty bad. The script is awful and some of McClane's one liners leave you scratching your head - "What sets off the metal detectors first, the lead in your ass or the shit in your brains?" Ummm... Huh? Shit sets off metal detectors? Sloppy ass writing.



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    1. I like Die Harder the second best of all the Die Hards, but that is a terrible, terrible line.

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    2. Right?! It's woeful. I cringe when McClane says it. My order is 1, 3, 2, 4, 5 - although I don't like McClane having a sidekick at all but I like With a Vengeance a bit better than Die Harder.

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    3. 3, 1, 5, 2, 4. I stand behind the car chase in 5 as being outstanding. There are some real and crazy stunts happening as opposed to CGI nonsense.

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    4. Whoa! That order is insanity. I have no problem with the car chase in 5 but I do have a problem with the entire movie and it is not a Die Hard film. There is only one movie that is the greatest action movie of all time and that is "Die Hard".

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  17. For my money.... not that I paid money to see it... Blues Brothers 2000 was one of the worse movies ever made and that it was a sequel fits with this entry.

    I have a real problem with Aykroyd cashing in on his old character in what I saw as a cash grab and, ultimately, completely unfunny.

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  18. Pretty much all the movies where the same shit happens to the same people twice! Ohhh! E.g. Home Alone 2 and The Hangover Part 2. In this case, the sequel is usually just a remake of the first one in a different location and is meant as a cash grab. However, sometimes the filmmaker will recycle a plot for the sequel when they didn't have enough money to fully realize their vision in the original, such as Desperado and Evil Dead 2. When this happens, the sequel is usually better or at least unique and interesting.

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  19. Just to cover one that hasn't been done, Dragonheart 3. You might say, "They made a number 2?" or "One wasn't that great, why even make direct to DVD sequels?" (which you'd be wrong because one is awesome). Yet here we are, in a world where Dragonheart somehow became a trilogy.

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  20. 2010: The Year We Make Contact. Why do it?

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    1. 2010 wasn't a horrible movie. It was done so different compared to 2001 to be appreciated.

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  21. "Crystal Skull". Period. It was a trilogy - it ended perfectly. I mean - every fan of a film or a series of films will always want MORE of it/them - but filmmakers have to know when they've said all there is to say and not give in to purely financial motivations. In short - apart from the fact that it was a terrible film - it was just unnecessary.

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  22. Any of the Highlander sequels. (I didn't see The Source but I'm willing to bet it was just as bad & unnecessary as the others.) At the end of Highlander, all the other immortals were killed, MacLeod had won the prize and became mortal. The story was all wrapped up. There was just no way to make a sequel without vastly contradicting the original.

    The Quickening had the immortals coming from another planet (or the distant past?) while the other sequels & the TV show went with The Kurrgan wasn't the last immortal so Connor didn't really win the prize storyline.

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    1. The Source is worse than you can imagine. By scraping the absolute bottom of where the series could possibly go, it actually manages to elevate the sequels that came before it.

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    2. Agreed. I've seen both cuts of The Quickening and I still couldn't get all the way through The Source. Brett Leonard is the worst.

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    3. In fairness, how can you make a sequel to a movie that won the Academy Award for best movie ever made?

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  23. I'll have to go with "City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold". It's not as terrible as you think. But "City Slickers" never screamed a sequel. The problem is that it basically strips the mid-life crisis angle the first one had and keeps the broad comedy(including a bit with a supposed snake bite that is one long "gay panic" joke because the 90s!).

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  24. I'll go with 1990's "The Two Jakes." It's a good-to-OK movie, but as a sequel to the perfection that was Polanski's "Chinatown" it exists just to placate Jack Nicholson's ego and for Robert Towne to cash a paycheck. We don't learn anything about who Jake Gittes is as a character we didn't already know from before, so why bother? Totally unnecessary.

    Exorcist II: The Heretic could have been unnecessary, but since there's an 'F This Movie' commentary forthcoming it's the opposite, a must-have sequel for JB and the gang to pile abuse on. I mean, you are doing a commentary for "Exorcist II." Right, Patrick? ;-)

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    1. Another vote for Exorcist 2 commentary with JB :)

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  25. As soon as Blade Runner 2 comes out, that'll be it.

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    1. And also Live Die Repeat Again :)

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    2. Aka Edge of Tomorrow 2

      The Ledge Beyond the edge, Bill hicks Joke :)

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  26. The low budget "Feast" sequels come to mind when it comes to this topic. The first at least shows some effort. The sequels....do not.

    -Rick, PA

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  27. I'm honestly surprised no one mentioned Easy Rider 2: The Ride Home.

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    1. Until "How Did This Get Made?" made a podcast for it I didn't even know that "Easy Rider 2" existed.

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  28. Troll 2, and The Exorcist II: The Heretic. Has there ever been a good horror sequel?

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    1. I almost forgot Airplane 2 and Alvin and the chipmunks 2: The squeakquel

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    2. Airplane 2 has some decent laughs. Of course, so does Exorcist 2. That being said there are PLENTY of good-to-great horror sequels. Scream 2, Nightmare 3, Psycho II, Exorcist III, Bride of Chucky...all worthy successors just to name a few.

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  29. I'm frankly surprised it's taken this long to get a mention: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues.

    BTW, Blackthorne is actually pretty good.

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  30. All the Jaws sequels...I quite the second one but Jaws is such a perfect and complete film; no sequel was ever necessary.

    Sad to see Another Stakeout as the chosen picture; I love that film.

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  31. All the Jaws sequels...I quite the second one but Jaws is such a perfect and complete film; no sequel was ever necessary.

    Sad to see Another Stakeout as the chosen picture; I love that film.

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